Nexperia – a customer of NWF’s foundry services – became its second-largest shareholder in 2019. It has now completed the transaction to obtain 100 per cent ownership of the semiconductor production facility, the UK’s largest. NWF will be renamed Nexperia Newport.
NWF is mainly based in Wales, with smaller manufacturing operations in Manchester and Hamburg. The fab was first built for Inmos in 1982 to manufacture transputers. It became NWF in 2017 and has received government backing as part of an effort to develop south Wales as a hub of expertise in compound semiconductors, which are faster and more energy efficient.
When NWF recently failed to meet certain conditions of its supply contract with Nexperia, its partial owner exercised its right to appoint board directors and hence guide the direction of the company.
The Newport site produces over 35,000 200mm wafer starts per month, covering a wide range of semiconductor technologies. Its chips are used...